Early European travelers to Southeast Tennessee found as many as 5,000 Cherokees living in the fertile bottomlands of the Little Tennessee, Tellico, and Hiwassee rivers. All of the towns were within a half day’s walk of the Chilhowee and Unaka mountains, a reserve of game animals and wild plant foods accessible to Cherokee hunters and foragers.

While little remains of the original Cherokee towns, visitors can drive by these sites and visit several locations that share the Cherokee heritage. Several are in Polk County, while others are in nearly Tennessee counties. A Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook describes the Cherokee culture and sites in Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina.

While the museums offer important excellent information about the Cherokee history in Tennessee, it’s important to also experience the landscapes of the original Cherokee territory. The Cherokee homeland has been altered over the past two hundred years, but many of the physical features are still here – the rivers, ridges, plants and animals. We still have these features and, fortunately, we still have the Cherokee understanding of our relationship with this land. Scenic drives that retain the flavor of Cherokee days include Hwy. 30 through Reliance and Greasy Creek to U.S. Hwy. 64, U.S. Hwy. 68 past Zion Hill Baptist Church and Turtletown to Tellico Plains, the Unicoi Turnpike and the Cherohala Skyway.

 Fort Loudoun (1756-1760) State Historic Area. Reconstruction of the first British military outpost west of the southern Appalachians. It was built to protect the Cherokees from the French but ultimately came under siege by the Cherokees. Nearby Tellico Blockhouse (historical marker), built in 1794 to protect Cherokees from local militia; later used by federal Indian agents.

 Sequoyah Birthplace Museum, tribally owned and operated. Exhibits about the 18th Century Overhill Cherokee towns and the accomplishments of Sequoyah, originator of the Cherokee syllabary. Monuments mark the location of Chota and Tanasi, flooded by Tellico Dam. Chota was the home of Cherokee leaders Atta Kulla Kulla, Oconostota, and Nancy Ward. Toqua Mound is also located beneath the waters of the lake.

Great Tellico (Taliquah), a Cherokee village located on the east side of the Tellico River, about a mile northeast of present-day Tellico Plains alongside its sister city, Chatuga. It was located on the great trading path of the Unicoi Turnpike.

 Coker Creek, home to displaced Cherokee families after the Hiwassee District cession in 1819, became a bustling stopover point on the Unicoi Turnpike. The Cherokee community was overrun when gold was discovered in 1831 and suffered the Removal in 1838.

 Unicoi Turnpike. Part of the ancient trail across the mountain from South Carolina can be seen off Hwy. 68 in Coker Creek. The Tennessee portion of the trail continued on to Vonore.

Turtletown (Saligugi’hi),  a post-removal community established by Cherokee families who evaded the troops or escaped the Trail of Tears. Cherokee families helped found the Turtletown Baptist Church (now Zion Hill Baptist) in 1845 and worshipped there as part of a Cherokee-white congregation.

 Ducktown. Site  of the Cherokee settlement of Kawonee. The area around Ducktown and Copperhill was mined by Cherokees to ontain copper used in a variety of objects. The Ducktown Basin Museum interprets the history of copper mining in the area.

Ocoee Whitewater Center, home to the only original portion of the Old Copper Road, built by Cherokee laborers in 1853; Cherokee garden of medicinal plants; native plant garden.

Parksville Lake covers the sites of the 19th Century settlements of Wakoee and Silquo.

Nancy Ward grave site, burial site of the Cherokee “beloved woman” who became a friend to the white settlers.

 Fort Marr, the last of four blockhouses of Fort Morrow, originally built on the old Federal Road near the Conasauga River to serve as supply depot for Tennessee troops serving in Jackson’s Creek War. Later used to house Cherokees during the Trail of Tears.

Hiwassee River Valley. Fish weirs can still be seen when the river is low. Tieske Creek and Junebug Creek were named after Cherokees who farmed the rich riverbottoms in the valley, which is little changed today.

 Columbus. In 1809, site of a grist (corn) mill built by the U.S. government for the Cherokees and later a town built for frontier trade with the Cherokee Nation, the boundary between the U.S. and the Cherokee Nation being the Hiwassee River from 1820-1838. It was the first county seat of Polk County.

Hiwassee Old Town site, sits across the north-south Warrior’s Path which crossed the Hiwassee River at Savannah Ford. A strategic entry point into the early Cherokee nation, it guarded the Overhill from attack from  the south.  Much of the site, still known as Savannah Farm, is now a state-run tree seedling nursery.

 Starr Mountain was home to Caleb Starr and his Cherokee wife Nancy Harlan, granddaughter of Nancy Ward. In 1819 when Cherokees were forced to give up their land north of the Hiwassee River, he qualified for a reservation and received the lands abutting Starr Mountain.

Red Clay State Historic Park, capital of the Cherokee Nation in 1832 after Georgia laws made it illegal to hold council meetings at New Echota.  Visitor’s Center shows Cherokee life in the early republic.

The Cherokee Heritage Trails Project is a project of the Blue Ridge Initiative and its partners -- the Museum of the Cherokee Indians, the North Carolina Arts Council, the Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association, the North Carolina Folklife Institute, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the Blue Ridge Parkway, National Park Service.

The guidebooks are available through the Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association for $16.95, plus shipping and handling if applicable. Contact Tennessee Overhill; PO Box 143; Etowah, TN 37331; phone 423-263-7232; website www.tennesseeoverhill.com